1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer interconnects and in particular to distributed power management of devices connected to interconnect.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional desktop, laptop, or server computer, power management routines can control power usage on devices in the computer enclosure. However, power for devices connected by an interconnect outside of the enclosure has typically not been controllable from a central source.
For devices connected to interconnects, however, the lack of control from a single service has meant that each device desiring power management in a distributed system have typically required their own software to provide independent power management. Today, devices connected to interconnects are typically powered down individually or on an interconnect segment by interconnect segment basis. Such a collection of independent power-managed devices has made keeping devices in a distributed system in a consistent or coherent power state difficult. In addition, the need for independent power management for distributed devices has increased the cost of providing such power management reducing the number of devices that provide such power-saving capabilities. Devices without built-in software capabilities have typically not provided such power management.
As ultra dense servers such as blade servers have become more important, with large numbers of devices connected in distributed systems, the desire for improved power management software capabilities to provide coherent power management has increased.